Latest / Kids Ministry Calling with Jana Magruder / 78. Discipling the Gen Alpha with Dr. Shelly Melia, Shane Pruitt, and Chuck Peters

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78. Discipling the Gen Alpha with Dr. Shelly Melia, Shane Pruitt, and Chuck Peters · Kids Ministry Calling with Jana Magruder

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Are you dedicated to working with kids and families in the local church?
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Well, clearly that's more than a career, that's a calling.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm Jana Magruder, and this is Kids Ministry Calling.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Kids Ministry Calling.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Jana Magruder, and today we're bringing you a special conversation recorded live at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: And it's in collaboration with Edge Next Gen podcast host Chuck Peters.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Together, we're gonna sit down with Dr.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Shelley Melia and Shane Pruitt to discuss their new book, Reaching Gen Alpha.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: Now, Generation Alpha is not only growing up completely surrounded by digital technology and a rapidly changing cultural landscape.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: It's also the first generation to grow up only knowing artificial intelligence.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: As kids ministry leaders who are working with Gen Alpha every week, we have the opportunity and responsibility to understand the world that they're growing up in so we can faithfully point them to Jesus.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Shelley Melia and Shane Pruitt share what makes this generation unique: how technology and AI are shaping the way they learn and connect.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: We discuss practical ways ministry leaders can engage Gen Alpha with truth, relationships, and the hope of the gospel.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: If you want to better understand the next generation, this conversation will help you think strategically about reaching Gen Alpha and discipling them for a lifetime of faith.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Let's jump into this very important conversation.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: Hey listeners, whether you are listening on the Kids Mystery Calling or on the Next Gen Ministry podcast, we are here together.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: Janet, it's so nice to be able to co-host with you again.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm so excited.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: We're at the SBC.
1:41
SPEAKER_02: We are, and it's uh we're kind of in a busy, noisy exhibit hall.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: So as you listen leaders, you hear all those things behind us.
1:47
SPEAKER_02: That's where we are, that's why you're hearing that.
1:49
SPEAKER_02: By the way, if you're not here, you should be.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: Why not?
1:53
SPEAKER_02: We have actually some really cool things that are happening in the next gen space at the SBC.
1:58
SPEAKER_02: So in the village.
2:00
SPEAKER_02: The LifeWave Village is this amazing presence that we have.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: It's like a gigantic uh exhibit within the exhibits.
2:07
SPEAKER_02: I really huge in the middle.
2:09
SPEAKER_02: We've got adult ministries and Bibles and uh kids in ministry and student ministry, of course, our next gen team, uh, women's ministry, all in a great coffee bar.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: All the years.
2:18
SPEAKER_02: So if you are at SBC, you need to come by and get some get some caffeine to keep your energy up, and we'd love to have conversations with you.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: But we're also doing something that's extra cool today.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: So just really quickly, Janet, because we need to get to our guests, tell us about the micro conference that we are doing here.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would love to.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: So for the first time ever, we have a kids micro conference at the SBC.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: So at the annual meeting that we have every summer in June, uh, we've never had like a kid specific kind of presence.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: And so uh we were asked to lead a micro conference because it's only two hours.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's why it's called micro.
2:53
SPEAKER_03: Right.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we have so many things to say.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: So it's been hard to kind of push it down to two hours, but that is gonna be this afternoon.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: It's sold out.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: A couple hundred people will be there.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we're gonna we're gonna get to just be with, you know, all of our SBC friends and get to talk kids' ministry with the people.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: So it's for kids' ministry leaders.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: So whether you're preschool or kids ministry, this is to equip those leaders who are here.
3:16
SPEAKER_02: So it's a kids' conference, yeah, but it's a kids ministry leader conference, not for children themselves.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: Although we do have some coloring sheets in our in the Life Way Village, and we've got kids over there.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: Lots of kids coloring all kinds of cool stuff.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: So fun.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: So, and there's also a student ministry microconference uh that's happening here as well.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: So the SBC is becoming a place not only where senior pastors are coming, right in senior leadership, but really where we as next gen leaders are increasingly finding more and more value to be here to make connections, to network, and to interact and rub elbows with some great uh thought leaders like our two guests today.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: I do like that setup.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: We are here with our friends, our good friends Show Emilia from Dallas Baptist University and Shane Pruitt from NAM.
4:02
SPEAKER_02: You've both been on both of our shows before.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: We just we love spending time with you.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: You guys have a new book that is out, Reaching Generation Alpha.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: And that is something that is so dear to us.
4:14
SPEAKER_02: You know, our passion is for reaching the next generation.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: And we know you two have put in a lot of research and a lot of work to pull together this really phenomenal book.
4:23
SPEAKER_02: And we want to talk today about some of the things that are in there so that we can then point our listeners to go and get the whole story by reading the entire book.
4:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that'd be great.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: So tell us how, just to get started, what inspired this partnership, right?
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Because the two of you, we all know one another, but this is the first time that you've collaborated on something.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: How did that come about?
4:45
SPEAKER_05: Well, uh, you know, I'd been speaking on Gen Alpha for a little while, and then noticed that he was starting to speak on it.
4:52
SPEAKER_05: I think he came to DBU and spoke on it.
4:54
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
4:55
SPEAKER_05: And um, I was just thinking in my head, whoa, it would be really cool to write a book with him.
5:00
SPEAKER_05: Uh so we emailed, and then he has such great contacts here that uh he talked to them and they were interested.
5:07
SPEAKER_05: But I think it's really kind of a good um picture of how we think next gen should work too.
5:13
SPEAKER_05: Like we should be working together, yes, and we should he should know what we're passing off to him, and he should, you know, I should know all those things.
5:21
SPEAKER_05: And so yeah, I think it's a great way to kind of blend next gen ministry and get churches to be thinking about it holistically.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: So for those of you who don't already know one or the other of you, generally speaking, Shelly, you are a kids' ministry leader and influencer, professor.
5:38
SPEAKER_02: Yes, uh Shane, you've been student ministry leaning even towards college.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: We see a lot of you doing doing uh ministry, sharing the gospel at colleges and seeing all kinds of revival.
5:48
SPEAKER_02: So we have kids and students coming together in this really cool partnership.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and like like Shelly has said, is like in the past, those worlds sometimes are very sallowed.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like children's ministry, student ministry, college and young adult ministry.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: And really, I think if we're doing it well and effectively, it should just be a continual pipeline through all those.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: And so I think the more we work together, the more we build those bridges together, the more helpful it is for students and their parents and families.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, like Shelly said, I we had also spoken at multiple conferences together, and I would make sure I like snuck into her session and I was just in the back taking notes, and it's like incredible.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: And so I think we always want to try to work with people smarter than us, you know.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: For me, that's not hard.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
6:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so when when Dr.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: Emilio reached out, I was like, that was an easy yes.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: So it's been such a joy just going through this journey, writing the book, and just really hearing her heartbeat and her her wisdom.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, she's a research guru.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure y'all know that.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: So brilliant.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: So I'll just say she brought all the smarts to the book.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: I just brought some stories and illustrations.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: You know, smarts and stories are really great to be.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it's good.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: You guys are a great team.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: So thanks for doing this.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, Gen Alpha is one of our favorite topics to talk about.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: And I have to keep reminding myself that it's no longer Gen Alpha is in kids' ministry and Gen Z is student ministry.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: We've moved on from that.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: Gen Alpha is very much into student ministry now, too.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: So I think for anyone listening or watching, it's important to remember that when we talk about Gen Alpha, we're talking about preschool kids and students.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: I know Gen Z starts up at age 16 right now, and so they're more of our upperclassmen, and our Gen Alpha are entering into high school, certainly in middle school.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: So I think that's important to frame before we really get into this.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think we've we often, probably over the last four or five years, there has not been a whole lot of new data on Gen Alpha.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: So they've been lumped in with the research that's been done on Z, right?
7:50
SPEAKER_02: And so now we're getting kind of a first glimpse to see how are they distinct, what what areas are similar, and there's a lot of similarities, they're all digital natives, but there are some things that really distinguish alphas from Ziers.
8:03
SPEAKER_02: And as ministry leaders, we need to have awareness of that because we can't just do the same thing for both audiences.
8:09
SPEAKER_02: So, Shelly, let's start with you.
8:11
SPEAKER_02: Okay, what would you call out that you all have found that is something that that sets alphas apart from our Gen Zers?
8:18
SPEAKER_05: Sure.
8:18
SPEAKER_05: I like to think about it in terms of um, you know, technology, social media.
8:23
SPEAKER_05: We read about how it's rewired uh Gen Z's brain.
8:27
SPEAKER_05: So it's kind of changed the way that they could they it's changed everything.
8:31
SPEAKER_05: And we know the negative effects now.
8:33
SPEAKER_05: It it took a while for us to figure that out.
8:35
SPEAKER_05: But I think with Gen Alpha, it's it's actually forming their brains, it's actually forming their worldviews, and that's a big difference than changing something versus forming it.
8:46
SPEAKER_05: So right alongside them, they have uh technology that is feeding them algorithms, shaping their worldview, their identity, all of those things.
8:54
SPEAKER_05: So you take it up a level with Gen Alpha, and I think that's one of the things you have to sort of wrap your brain around and understand that it is discipling our kids.
9:04
SPEAKER_05: Like it's literally forming, discipling them in a way that I think no other generation has experienced at such an early age, right?
9:14
SPEAKER_05: Right.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I completely agree.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: And um, and you talk about student ministry as it's a very unique time in student ministry when you think of like here's these student ministries that are having to minister to two distinct generations at the same time.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: So Gen Z, Gen Alpha.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I think just like you know, millennials were like on the kind of tail end of some things, and then Gen Z were like fully immersed in that.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: I think you're seeing the exact same thing with Gen Z, where it's like Gen Z is like, oh, like even artificial intelligence, right?
9:45
SPEAKER_01: That that kind of came on board during Gen Z.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: And so like that change, but Gen Alpha will mainly only know a world.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh that is like let I almost use the word dictated.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: I hope we don't get there, you know, but is it definitely influenced by you know artificial intelligence.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: So I think even artificial intelligence is a main major change in that too.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Shelly, I quote you often saying Gen Z are digital natives and Gen Alpha are AI natives.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: They've never known a world.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: They'll they will never know a world without artificial intelligence.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And what does that mean?
10:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I think it means a lot, right?
10:21
SPEAKER_05: We don't even know it's they're a real-time experiment with uh with artificial intelligence, and you know, we won't know the full effects for a few years.
10:30
SPEAKER_05: Yes, but I think they could move towards AI addicts too.
10:33
SPEAKER_05: Like I think even we become more and more dependent upon it.
10:37
SPEAKER_05: And if you can imagine being a young child, young teenager, and having the opportunity to ask it everything, yeah, you would.
10:46
SPEAKER_05: Who wouldn't?
10:47
SPEAKER_05: Right.
10:48
SPEAKER_05: I mean, who wouldn't?
10:49
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I find myself doing that.
10:51
SPEAKER_02: So we were sharing before we started recording about just a couple ways that we are beginning to experiment with AI.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: One of the ways that I've used it is to help me do some research, you know, for some Bible Bible history and things that I want to incorporate into a teaching or into an article I'm working on.
11:06
SPEAKER_02: And and I've found because we have uh a license of co-pilot that is uh that's a corporate license, I find it quoting me to myself.
11:16
SPEAKER_02: It says, You wrote this about this topic, and and here and it'll say, This is how you might say this thing in your voice.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's like it knows me, right?
11:26
SPEAKER_02: It is, right?
11:27
SPEAKER_02: And so for those of us as adults, we can kind of filter that and we can say we know this is artificial, we know it's not really intelligent, but it can be really easy to get caught up in in that.
11:37
SPEAKER_02: And and we start to you can see how people could have a relationship with AI and begin to trust it, right?
11:45
SPEAKER_02: Without really discerning whether that's good or not.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, even at the North American Mission Board we recently uh just created and will promote here at SVC, but an AI tool that helps you practice sharing the gospel with people.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: So you literally can put in a 25-year-old, you know, student, grad student in Boston.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is, you know, just they're in Ivy League school, they're brilliant, and they're an atheist.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to share the gospel with them and just interact back and forth.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: And you can even put the level like, you know, easy, medium, expert, extreme.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm still working on like saving that uh, you know, like Ivy League student on the expert level.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, so it's hard.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: But but even AI now using it to like train us how to share the gospel and stuff like that.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so there's a lot of good applications.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: AI, right?
12:35
SPEAKER_02: It's not it's so hard to say anything is just good or bad or good or evil uh in this in the technology realm.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: It's really about how do we interface with it and what do we use it for.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah the concern would be that Gen Alpha is going to be so comfortable with AI that they trust it.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: Shelly, you had said doctors may not have much of a future, right?
12:54
SPEAKER_02: We we might lose our general practitioners because people would consult AI rather than go to a physician.
12:59
unknown: Yeah.
13:00
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I think with kids, I mean, all of those things are true.
13:03
SPEAKER_05: But for me, one of the things too is just the way they're looking to it for relationship, the way they're looking to it for affirmation.
13:11
SPEAKER_05: Um, there's lots of stuff out there right now in the news.
13:14
SPEAKER_05: Uh, 60 Minutes did a special on virtual companions and how easy it is for them to get sucked into a virtual relationship.
13:23
SPEAKER_05: Uh, and that's dangerous, right?
13:25
SPEAKER_05: And so when kids are lonely, when they don't fit in, they're very vulnerable.
13:30
SPEAKER_05: And so they're going to trend towards something.
13:32
SPEAKER_05: And so I think that's something that's gonna catch parents by surprise.
13:36
SPEAKER_05: In the same way these phones caught us by surprise of what they did.
13:39
SPEAKER_05: I think some of this virtual companionship, uh, in addition to are they really learning anything?
13:43
SPEAKER_05: I mean, at the higher ed level, we're trying to figure out how do we assess authentic learning.
13:48
SPEAKER_05: So, you know, with Gen Z and COVID, it was okay, how do we teach them when they're not in the room?
13:53
SPEAKER_05: With Gen Alpha, it's how do we assess them?
13:56
SPEAKER_05: How do we really know that they know this?
13:59
SPEAKER_05: Because they can cheat, they can get around the system, they're smarter than we are about these kinds of things.
14:04
SPEAKER_05: So it really opens up Pandora's box, yeah.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think and on the student ministry level too, I've had a lot of youth pastors say they already got students question on like in the pornography realm.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Is it really pornography if it's AI generated?
14:19
SPEAKER_01: Is it really sin if it's not real people?
14:22
SPEAKER_01: And students are already asking that question.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: We're like, yeah, well, the issue is with the heart and lust, obviously.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: But I don't think if we went back three, four years ago, we would have ever thought we would have had students asking those that kind of question that kind of question, exactly.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: Wow, yeah.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about you you brought up student pastors.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean for discipleship at church, knowing about gen alpha?
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, there's a term um that can sound derogatory, but I think we know what it means is there's a new term now for teenagers called screenagers.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so and so what we're seeing, I think, especially with teenagers, is very comfortable on a screen, very articulate on a screen, can navigate that so well.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it reminds me of Linus from Charlie Brown.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: You know, he had his blue blanket, yeah, and it was his security blanket.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: So we wrote a whole chapter in reaching generation alpha, the book, and the chapter is called Gen Alpha and their security blanket.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: And we're saying it's screens.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: So we've seen it.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: I see it in my own kids sometimes.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: Very comfortable, very articulate on a on a screen.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, they can, you know, and and think of like my 14-year-old who's very outgoing, who started a Bible study at a public, you know, school, very outgoing.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: But she can be very comfortable with her friends on FaceTime, playing video games together, they do homework together, but then we can we kind of joke.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: If they run into each other in the wild, in the wild, unplanned, they're like, I'm like, hey, there's so and so, and they're like, I know, Dad, just keep walking.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, you're just on Facebook with them for like three hours.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: You're like, Dad, quit being so cringy, you know?
15:55
SPEAKER_01: And so we found very comfortable, very articulate, very confident on a screen, but that in-person, face-to-face interaction, let's just be honest, a little awkward, a little weird.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh, young people now almost at large have a hard time looking you in the eye, holding a conversation, shaking your hand.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so where that could hinder what we do in our churches and in our ministries to go, okay, Colossians 3, bear one another's burdens.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, Are you kidding me?
16:23
SPEAKER_01: I can't even talk to people.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh, go share the gospel with the lost person.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: What?
16:27
SPEAKER_01: I can't even run into my best friend in the wild unplanned, you know?
16:31
SPEAKER_01: And so I think really one of the futures of student ministry, children's ministry, I think we tend to think digital, got to figure out AI, got to figure out digital ministry.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: That's true.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: But I think one of the best things we can do to cut through the noise is to really disciple kiddos and teenagers, young people to know how to do real life with real people in the real world.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Because what's gonna happen to a generation is they're gonna miss the beauty of the real world around them because they're obsessed with the a fake one online.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: So I think really, as the church, that's where we can step in and go, here's how you have real relationships, real people really know how to interact with real people in the real world.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: And we were talking about our artificial intelligence.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: I think we have generations now, Gen Z and Alpha and Beta coming after, who are gonna have artificial relationships.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: And so I think that's so key for us in ministry, right?
17:20
SPEAKER_02: Is we we know that our kids for many reasons, COVID with the isolating and separating and distancing and all that stuff, kind of broke that social um uh timeline for them of development, right?
17:35
SPEAKER_02: Relational development with real people, and it's been replaced with these artificial relationships.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Social media hasn't helped, right?
17:41
SPEAKER_02: Because we have all these friends that we've never met or that we don't really know.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: Everything is filtered and curated, so that we're only showing our very best to the world.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: And that we we know that well, that there's good things about those kind of connections that they're not authentic.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we in order to reach a generation with that is desperate for real connection, we have to, as the church, be the place where they find those real relationships with friends and peers, but also with leaders, right?
18:10
SPEAKER_02: So that we can have relationships.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Discipleship happens in relationship.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: And I and it'd be interesting to see if it's temporary or if it's ongoing.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: But there does seem to be, especially with Generation Alpha, this kind of awe and wonder of the physical again.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, um, I've shared this on multiple of our interviews, uh, Dr.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Millie and I is uh again, I my 14-year-old and then my 12-year-old, they discovered a cassette tape player.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know, and it went in the colour.
18:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's like, but it was like, you know, the small one that clips on your belt loop, you know, and they'll walk and they'll walk around with that with physical headphones.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: And so one of our favorite hobbies recently has been to go to half-price books and find old cassette tapes for$1.99.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: And they think it's fantastic.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: And all their friends are like, what is that?
18:56
SPEAKER_01: You know, and then it's kind of like going back to like even some of the like old video games and stuff, you know.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: Like I pulled out my old Game Boy the other day with the green screen, like Tetris, it's like single color monochromes, which is amazing, you know, like they just discovered the Ark of the Covenant or something, you know?
19:11
SPEAKER_01: And so it seems like there is this kind of awe and wonder of physical things again, you know.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: And I hope that parents catch on.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: I want you to talk about that, Shelly.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Of what can they do?
19:22
SPEAKER_00: I think parents are read in now.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, for a while felt like everybody was sounding the alarm.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Jonathan Hyde, anxious generation, like we've got to figure something out.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, and parents seem to be more read in on the dangers of screen time and all of that.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, but what can the church offer in the real world to these families as they're seeking to do that?
19:43
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I do think parents are very well read in, as you say, with phones.
19:48
SPEAKER_05: And they're, you know, I think some of our Gen Z parents, certainly our millennial millennial parents, are trying to do some things different with their kids.
19:55
SPEAKER_05: And and, you know, we applaud that.
19:58
SPEAKER_05: Um but I think whenever we surveyed, uh, we surveyed like 714 people and asked them about awareness.
20:06
SPEAKER_05: What kind of awareness do parents have on certain issues?
20:10
SPEAKER_05: And the two lowest uh were AI and pornography.
20:16
SPEAKER_05: And so perhaps one of the things that we can help parents understand is to say, hey, let's not make the same mistakes we made with our phones.
20:24
SPEAKER_05: Let's really think about AI because it is attractive for parents too, because it has tools, you know, we can make our grocery list, we can do all kinds of things.
20:32
SPEAKER_05: But to really, you know, not sound like the sky is falling to them, but to say, look, you really have to be aware that uh kids are using AI, you want your kids to learn, you you don't want them to have virtual companions, and then also the stuff that kids are doing with pornography, I think parents aren't aware of.
20:50
SPEAKER_05: So we have to get them aware, right?
20:52
SPEAKER_05: Right.
20:52
SPEAKER_05: And then we have to help them understand that whoever has their child's attention is who's gonna disciple them.
20:58
SPEAKER_05: That's right, right?
20:58
SPEAKER_05: And so if we let uh the world, if we let sports, if we let whatever it is, whoever has their attention is going to disciple them.
21:06
SPEAKER_05: And so I hope and pray that one of the results of this book would be sort of doubling down to say we have to prioritize our kids.
21:15
SPEAKER_05: Uh we we know we work with children's ministers and student ministers.
21:18
SPEAKER_05: I don't know very many of them who have plenty of volunteers, who have plenty of committed people.
21:24
SPEAKER_05: Right.
21:25
SPEAKER_05: Uh we're all struggling.
21:27
SPEAKER_05: And how sad is that in the sense that if we could just make the most of what we have, we might be able to sort of turn the tide on this.
21:35
SPEAKER_05: So I think part of it is reaching their parents and just saying, hey, you know, here's some of the things we're concerned about, here's the things we're excited about.
21:43
SPEAKER_05: And let's all be on the same team.
21:45
SPEAKER_05: And I and I think there is a collective movement with the phones.
21:49
SPEAKER_05: Right.
21:50
SPEAKER_05: So let's let's keep it going and step into that space.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: And one thing that we even try to do with our kids and really encourage other parents to do with their kids too, is we embrace The awkward conversations.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, because especially as they get older, they're going to be curious.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: They're going to have questions.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of times as parents, we don't want to have those awkward conversations.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: And so we just kind of avoid them at all costs.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: But if young people have questions, they don't feel like they can go their parents or their ministry leaders, they'll go upswell and we're not going to like where they where they go.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: You know, and so we we embrace the awkward conversations like bring us your awkward conversations.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: Nothing's off the table.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: And of course, we respond, you know, age appropriate, but bring us your awkward conversations.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Because I'd much rather you be, you know, discipled by the gospels than the Grammys.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: I'd much rather you be discipled by truth than TikTok.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: And so I'd say, as parents, is like, it might feel awkward, it might feel weird, but embrace those awkward conversations because you know, even and my parents were great parents, super involved, loving parents, healthy marriage still is.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: But I the birds and bees talk for me was literally coming home after basketball practice when I was about 14.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: I just walked in my room and there was this weird book on my bed that described it using animals, you know.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: And it was but what was weird is my my mom and dad never even mentioned it.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Not even, did you read the book?
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Do you have questions?
23:15
SPEAKER_01: Just drop the book, just walk away in there and never to be mentioned of again.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: And that was the question, do you know?
23:21
SPEAKER_01: And those are yeah, and so I was like, I don't think we can do that anymore.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: There's if if we don't disciple our kids, the world is more than happy to, and we gotta lean in.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: So okay, so there's something really, really practical here that I want to make sure we don't miss listeners.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: So whether you work in preschool, kids, middle school, high school, beyond in the college ministry space, yeah.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: Parents are desperate for help.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: Because these parents, not that they don't care, they're overwhelmed, they're they're they don't feel well equipped to answer these questions, they don't know how to have that awkward conversation, Shane.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: They want to leave the book on the bed and step away, right?
23:52
SPEAKER_02: Let the book do its thing.
23:53
SPEAKER_02: What book do I leave on their bed?
23:54
SPEAKER_02: Tell me that.
23:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what but they're looking for someone to come alongside and help them.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: And and I would say, from what everything that we've heard, parents are very open to having their children's ministry leader, their student pastor, offer them help.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: They're looking for help and they want that.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: We need to turn our minds increasingly more away from ministering to kids and students as our primary role, to ministering to the whole family.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: And that when we have a parent meeting or a parent training, it's not just to say, here's the rules and here's what's gonna happen, but or here's what maybe what we're gonna be studying.
24:29
SPEAKER_02: But listen, we are here to be available and accessible to you.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: We want to walk with you and maybe even to offer some training sessions that deal with some really practical issues like this, where we can guide that conversation for our parents, knowing that they are the primary influence in our own kids' lives.
24:47
SPEAKER_02: And if we don't equip them, their kids are gonna find those answers somewhere else, right?
24:51
SPEAKER_02: So we really need to step up in how we engage and interact and train up parents.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
24:56
SPEAKER_05: And I think that uh most parents want to do that, but there's things that get in the way of that, you know.
25:03
SPEAKER_05: Maybe they didn't have a model, maybe their parents didn't do that to them, and so they're like, I don't know how to do a family worship, you know, or um, you know, maybe they feel uh like they aren't qualified because of their own lives, you know.
25:19
SPEAKER_05: Maybe they think, well, I'm not really worthy to do this because I just yelled at you over here, or whatever.
25:24
SPEAKER_05: I mean, I think we talk ourselves out of that role because we don't think we're good enough, and because we've sort of had this culture where let the professionals do it.
25:31
SPEAKER_03: Right.
25:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's the outsourcing mentality.
25:34
SPEAKER_05: And and I think that we just need to get really specific with parents and say, this is how you do it.
25:40
SPEAKER_05: Instead of just saying, go do it, it's this is how you do it.
25:44
SPEAKER_05: Hey, it's not always gonna go great.
25:45
SPEAKER_05: There's gonna be times when it doesn't go well, but sort of normalize the struggle of it because when we're in ministry, it comes naturally, right?
25:53
SPEAKER_05: It came naturally to me to say, hey, we're gonna have family time.
25:57
SPEAKER_05: That's that's what we do.
25:58
SPEAKER_05: But think of all the parents that doesn't come naturally.
26:01
SPEAKER_05: Right.
26:02
SPEAKER_05: Um, and you know, Satan likes to to make us think we're not able to do that.
26:06
SPEAKER_05: So I do think there's a disconnect.
26:08
SPEAKER_05: They want to do it, they don't know how to do it.
26:10
SPEAKER_05: They don't know how to do it.
26:11
SPEAKER_05: And so that's what I would say.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you know, you think of even generationally, as we talk about generation alpha, is the majority of Generation Alpha's parents are millennials.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: And you know, some older Gen Z, some younger Gen Xers, but the majority are millennials.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: And if you remember kind of looking back a little bit in church history, is really the first kind of generation to kind of leave the church in a big number were millennials.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: Now, many of them have gotten married, now they have kids, they're bringing their kids back to church, and praise the Lord for that.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: But that means there was a pretty significant part of their life where they were not in Christian community, being discipled, maturing.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: And so now you have, I think, you know, uh some millennials that love Jesus, but they've missed those kind of discipleship years themselves.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: And so we just have to remind ourselves as the church of that.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: I love what Dr.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: Emilia said is, you know, a lot of times at conferences uh or on social media, it sounds real good to go.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: All right, hey parents, we're not your kids' primary disciplers, you are.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: But no parents are going, nah, not interested, right?
27:11
SPEAKER_01: They're like, I don't know what to do.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: It's like great.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how do I do that?
27:14
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I love that there's a great church that to change the culture, what they did is ask one diagnostic question.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: So uh the way that church is set up, uh, the family pastor is over all next-gen ministries, right?
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And so he said to change the dynamic and the paradigm shift of that thought process in their church, he just started asking all the ministry teams one question.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: So children's ministry team would come to him and say, Hey, we want to do this thing, whatever it is.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Great, how are we gonna utilize that to equip and empower parents?
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Student ministry team would come, hey, we want to do this event, great, how are you gonna do that to equip and empower parents?
27:50
SPEAKER_01: And he said, just over time, just asking that one question over and over and over again, it just was a paradigm shift to where now the children's ministry team comes and says, Yeah, we want to do this thing, and this is how we're gonna use it to equip and empower parents.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Now they're already thinking through it in any planning process, and I think that's just a beginning point right there.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: As we're talking, um, this is a quick plug for Etch, but I'm thinking of several different breakout topics that we're gonna have this year in October.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh listeners come to Etch, we'll give you the link.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like one of them is having the hard conversations about pornography with kids, students, and parents.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, talk to your parents about how to do that and provide some of these tools that we're talking about that intimidate parents.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then um the other one, well, Shelly, you're talking about bait here come the betas.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: So definitely check that out.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Right.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: And then we've got a couple on AI and what does that mean for uh kids' ministry, student ministry, discipleship in general?
28:52
SPEAKER_00: So that's good to think about.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Um if you're thinking about coming to a conference, etch is really thinking through, intentionally putting together training that uh you know accomplishes these specific things that were that we have felt needs about.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: So, yes, please do come to the ECH next genistry conference in Nashville, just south and fantastic.
29:13
SPEAKER_02: Shane and Shelley, you will both be there this coming October in presenting and speaking again.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: We've had both of you on our main stage.
29:20
SPEAKER_02: We both read pre-conference sessions and breakouts.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: So, listeners, it's a this is a great opportunity not only for you to come just for all the other things you get, but also to meet folks like like Shane and Shelly in person and to be able to interact with them directly.
29:33
SPEAKER_02: So, etchconference.com is the place to go.
29:35
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
29:36
SPEAKER_02: And the event is this October 5, 6, 7.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: You know how to remember that, right?
29:40
SPEAKER_02: It's 567.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: Goodness gracious.
29:43
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
29:44
SPEAKER_02: Middle school job?
29:46
SPEAKER_04: That is old.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: That is old.
29:48
unknown: Okay.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's so let's talk a little bit more about how how do we effectively reach Gen Alpha with the gospel and disciple them in light of all the things that we've learned and all that we know, their need for those IRL relationships, right?
30:02
SPEAKER_02: How do we go about reaching them and how are there nuanced differences between what we might do with Gen Zers and our alphas?
30:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I think with Generation Alpha coming up is we've kind of hit on this a little bit, but I think one thing we just got to remind ourselves of, you know, used to, whenever I was a youth pastor, we would always kind of do diagnostic, you know, assessments of the student ministry.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: And you go, all right, what percentage of our students are being discipled?
30:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, is it a quarter of them?
30:28
SPEAKER_01: Can we can we raise it to half of them?
30:30
SPEAKER_01: Can we raise it to three fourths of them?
30:31
SPEAKER_01: What percentage of our students are being discipled?
30:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, now because of social media, AI, phones, tablets, we uh really need to change the mind shift to go, no, a hundred percent of them are being discipled.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Every single one of them are being discipled.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: So the question isn't, yeah.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: So the question isn't, are they being discipled?
30:50
SPEAKER_01: They are.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: The question is who or what is discipling them?
30:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: So now we got to enter into that space, you know, and I would just say stick to the word of God.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, like preach the word.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes we overthink it so much we forget the basics.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what I've seen with Generation Alpha, which I think is also similar to Gen Z.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: We saw a shift in Gen Z.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think Gen Alpha is all already all the way there.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: It's like this love for the real, the truth, right?
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Because now they're questioning everything.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, is this video even real?
31:20
SPEAKER_01: How do we know it's not AI generated?
31:22
SPEAKER_01: Is this picture even real?
31:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, um, so now they assume the fake.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: So let's bring in the real and the truth, and that's the word of God.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: And they have this hunger for the word of God, they have this hunger even for doctrine and theology on you know, a level they can understand.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: So I would say, you know, when I look at my own kids, so Gen Z, 20, Gen Alpha, 12 and 14, and then we have others that are younger.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, I would I I tell next-gen communicators this all the time.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: It should have never been this way, but the fact that it was, on some level, it was, is they go, all right, the days of in the setting, you know, of a gathering, uh, the days of opening your Bible, reading some Bible verse out of context, set your Bible to the side and telling a bunch of goofy and emotional stories for 30 minutes, those days are over.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like nobody will reject that faster than young people.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: Like my 20-year-old and my 14-year-old and my 12-year-old hate that stuff, you know?
32:18
SPEAKER_01: So it's like stick to the word of God, stick to the Bible, um, and preach the word, teach them the word.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: There's a hunger for truth, deep hunger for truth.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and we have the greatest truth there is Jesus Christ and his word.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, and that's a that's a relatively obvious and simple answer, right?
32:36
SPEAKER_02: Because I think what we what we tend to do is we want we complicate things.
32:39
SPEAKER_02: We do.
32:39
SPEAKER_02: Like we need to do something big or fancy or different, or we need to figure out how to leverage technology.
32:45
SPEAKER_02: And you're saying no.
32:46
SPEAKER_02: And I think we would say the same, right?
32:47
SPEAKER_02: What what what they really need is people relationship who care about them.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: I talk about five C leaders, leaders who are uh consistent, connected, right?
32:59
SPEAKER_02: Who are who have a Christ-like character, who care about kids.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: When we have people of the right character to build relationships, uh that's that's uh even more important as we develop leaders now than how well can you uh teach a Bible study.
33:14
SPEAKER_02: We we can help you teach, that's what we do, but we need leaders who are willing to connect and invest in relationships so that they can be the kind of leaders who, you know, like Paul said, it imitate me as I imitate Christ.
33:25
SPEAKER_02: We need to have leaders in their lives who are influencers.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: So that's another word, right?
33:30
SPEAKER_02: We pull from the social world and apply it to the real world when we say we need people who are walking with Jesus and living for him so that kids can see that modeled and then follow after them.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: I know a lot of uh student ministries too, and uh, I'm sure children's ministries are as well, kind of going back to the physical again, as they go, okay, bring a physical Bible.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: Yes, bring a journal open.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: Like I know even like uh my daughter's college ministry, and I know that's Gen Z, but I'm seeing that like trickle down too, where they're a college pastor and there's college ministries exploding.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: And one year went from around 75 to almost 500 in one year.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Grew.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh Stanton, the college pastor, goes, All right, on the screens, I'll put my major points, but I'm no longer putting verses on the screens.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: You need to be able to find those in your Bible, bring a physical Bible.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't have one, we're gonna have a plethora of them to give to you.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Physical Bible, physical journal.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: And gosh, students are like loving that.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: I know student ministries are like, no more, physical Bible.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: And so, shout out CSB, which is my favorite translation, my preaching translation.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: So I think there is even a return to that to go, we're not, you know, because I think even that, and we saw it in adults, right?
34:42
SPEAKER_01: We just start putting everything on screens, and even adults stop bringing their Bibles with them.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: So physical Bible, you know, and I've seen even a return of that in with student ministry as well and young people.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: And you guys talk a lot about going beyond the screen and helping parents try to live life beyond the screen.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: I know we hear about that from Anxious Generation as well.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: I think that that's such an urgent and cool opportunity for the church to provide those real life experiences, help families live life together because that's gonna be such an important thing to be able to live in a counterculture way.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, hasn't that always been the strategy?
35:19
SPEAKER_00: But now more than ever, how can even kids ministry leaders and student leaders help families find one another and live life intentionally in a counterculture?
35:30
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think that's the that is the the neat thing about this generation is I think their parents are wanting that because they have lived the outcome of they they feel the stress, they feel all the things that technology does.
35:43
SPEAKER_05: And so, you know, in the same way that I think we've had a collective response to get phones out of schools.
35:50
SPEAKER_05: I wish we would get phones out of churches.
35:52
SPEAKER_05: Churches, right?
35:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we can we can do that we just have to make that an expectation that we clarify.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Because we're all addicted to them.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Um but we're our parents want our kids to have a mat camp because they want to know if they're okay.
36:05
SPEAKER_05: But they can't feel belonging unless they actually talk to somebody.
36:09
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and belonging is a pain point for every single person.
36:12
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
36:12
SPEAKER_05: And so you're not gonna create belonging with me if I'm just in a room with 500 people with a really cool speaker, right?
36:19
SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna think, well, he's really cool.
36:21
SPEAKER_05: But if you know my name, if you notice me, if you begin to know my story, then I'm gonna gravitate towards you.
36:28
SPEAKER_05: And so, but the thing is that anything that we do well takes a sacrifice.
36:33
SPEAKER_05: And we haven't been real good at that, right?
36:35
SPEAKER_05: We we have not really wanted to sacrifice our weekends for to have those consistent leaders, and but I really, I really wish that we would find ways to set the phones aside and just sit and talk, um, and just sit and get to know each other, even intergenerationally.
36:50
SPEAKER_05: Uh I think there's such a need and uh there's such a longing for that that that could be something that sets churches apart too, is just to say, hey, we're gonna do the same thing here.
37:00
SPEAKER_05: Uh we wanna we wanna actually get to know you.
37:02
SPEAKER_02: And I think all that really takes is just a little bit of courage for the leader to say, listen, when we go, and maybe it's a small step, right?
37:09
SPEAKER_02: When we get to our small group time, yeah, that's a no-phone zone.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: Once once we get in that the little circles, we're gonna move out of the big room where we're in rows, we're gonna move to our little circles for discussion and application.
37:18
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna have a little basket, everybody puts their phone in that basket until we're done, right?
37:22
SPEAKER_02: And we can just begin to take small steps into creating creating that kind of environment, and kids will receive that um if we set the guidelines.
37:31
SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of us are soft because we want to be liked or because we don't want to make kids uncomfortable.
37:37
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
37:38
SPEAKER_02: We just need to take that step.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: That's a great piece of advice.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: And we've seen it even in our own home as where, okay, adults have to set the example, make the initiative, but then the young people embrace it, and then I kind of joke, they become the hall monitors of it.
37:53
SPEAKER_01: You know, so it's like, hey, get off your phone, Dad.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so what we so what we put in play about six months ago is like technology-free meals, you know, so no tablets, no phones, uh, whether we're eating at home or we go to a restaurant.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: And uh at first, the kids are like, Are you serious?
38:08
SPEAKER_01: you know, and then we almost started turning our meals into like interviews again.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: All right, you can ask dad any question from the day, or you ask mom any question from the day, or what do you want to know?
38:18
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, How did y'all meet?
38:19
SPEAKER_01: And we started thinking, it was like our kids have probably never asked us that, you know, and and so it's almost like really getting to know each other even on a deeper level, and that's family, the most intimate relationship.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: But what's funny now is now that we're months in, if I feel my phone vibrate and I happen to pull it out to just just make they're like, Dad, put the phone away.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: You know, you guys have been and then now it's extended to grandparents.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we were just with Nina and Jeep a couple of weeks ago, and we're like, all right, technology free.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: And what's crazy is I think it's easy for us to go, oh, the kids are addicted to screens, but all generations are.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: And so Nina and Jeep Paul are they go, Nina, put your phone away.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: Jeep Paul, put your phone down.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, grandparents, yeah.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so but you know, it's like, okay, we set the example, the kids kind of you know moaned for a bit, but now they've fully embraced it, and now that's their expectation.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: So I agree.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: I think it's just take that initiative, and I think the young people embrace it because they know they they know that oh man, this the real feels so different than the screen.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: The screen is normal, the real is now an adventure, you know.
39:25
SPEAKER_02: Well, we're we're running short on time here as we wrap this up, but I want to give you each an opportunity to answer one big question, one big question at the end.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: Uh, do you put makeup on in the car?
39:34
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
39:35
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's another inside joke.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: Here we go.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: No, so it's this, okay.
39:39
SPEAKER_02: If you could give one piece of advice to that next gen ministry leader, uh whether it be preschool, kids, middle school, high school, what bit of advice would you give to everyone listening?
39:51
SPEAKER_02: What would that big takeaway be from your research, from the book?
39:55
SPEAKER_02: What is that one big thing you would want them to hear?
39:57
SPEAKER_05: Wow, nailing it down to one thing, that is tough, Chuck.
40:01
SPEAKER_05: Um you know, I think God's word is good for all generations.
40:07
SPEAKER_05: Uh we don't have to worry that we're not gonna be able to uh reach them.
40:12
SPEAKER_05: We just need to do our part.
40:14
SPEAKER_05: Uh and knowing a missionary when they go into a foreign mission field, they're not just gonna show up and try to reach them.
40:23
SPEAKER_05: They're gonna do their homework behind the scenes, they're gonna learn their culture, their language, the pain points, all of those things.
40:29
SPEAKER_05: And so I think it is important to understand sort of the big picture to know what's going on in the life of Alpha, what's going on in their homes.
40:37
SPEAKER_05: Uh, but that the end of the day, we just have to be faithful and uh plant God's word in their heart and do it to their very best of our ability.
40:45
SPEAKER_05: Uh and so I think that that's the encouraging thing is that when we follow God's call in our life, when we are obedient to him, when we rely on the Holy Spirit, he's gonna do his work.
40:55
SPEAKER_05: Um, but we have to be faithful to prepare to do that work.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
40:59
SPEAKER_01: And I I would go the direction, just kind of capping everything we talked about of uh relationships, real world, you know, and I've said this for 20 years.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll say it till Jesus comes back or he calls me home, is I think just remind ourselves, young people have been bought by the blood of Jesus, they have the Holy Spirit of God, they're not the future of the church, they are the church right now.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: And so I would say, even in that relational aspect of the real is uh mobilize young people to be the church right now, too.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: And I would say even get them serving, get them living on mission in your church.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: And I think often when we think of serving, we tend to think, okay, we want to get kids to serve the children's ministry, or we want to get teenagers to serve the youth ministry.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: Yes and amen.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying get them to serve the church as a whole.
41:42
SPEAKER_01: Some of my favorite churches to preach in is when you walk up on Sunday morning and you see the eight-year-old, the 15-year-old, the 40-year-old, the 80-year-old all greeting together, all ages taking up the offering, all ages serving.
41:56
SPEAKER_01: And so I think that also helps them move through those different dynamics.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, we talked about let's not silo, let's children's ministry, student ministry, college ministry all work together.
42:04
SPEAKER_01: I think the best way to help students, you know, young people move through all those changes without falling through gaps is to make sure we're not running our ministries like little churches within churches.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think in the past that's what would happen is they would graduate out of that ministry, and then they're having to go, in a sense, join a new church that just meets at the same address, but they have no relationships, no idea, no vision.
42:26
SPEAKER_01: So, like, let's get students mobilized in the church as a whole.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's sticking power for young people too.
42:32
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
42:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh, do I get to go too?
42:36
SPEAKER_02: You would you like to?
42:37
SPEAKER_02: Go ahead.
42:37
SPEAKER_02: Tell us what's your what would your being takeaway be?
42:40
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know how to say it any better than Shane and Shelley just did, but I'll just I'll just add kind of what I was saying earlier about um this is an urgent opportunity for churches to look at how can we help families go beyond the screen, invite them into real biblical community and uh and living life together in the word and with one another.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: I think this is a good opportunity to do that because we have their attention, they're seeking that.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: How can we be there in this time?
43:10
SPEAKER_02: Wait, yeah, and I would say yes and to all those things.
43:13
SPEAKER_02: Yes, and um, I heard you say multiple times to teach the word, preach the word in season and out, right?
43:19
SPEAKER_02: And it will not return void.
43:21
SPEAKER_02: So we we need to I would say it like this the we need to remember that our goal is not success, our goal is faithfulness.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: We need to be faithful to teach the word uh with in high fidelity, uh with high biblical accuracy and a high view of scripture.
43:37
SPEAKER_02: Those physical Bibles are such a great thing, putting the phones aside.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: I love that trend that Jen and I have been tracking this of moving away from digital back towards the analog and towards the real.
43:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then remembering about in it all that the content we teach needs to be done in a context of connected, trusted relationships.
43:56
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
43:57
SPEAKER_02: Shelly, Dr.
43:58
SPEAKER_02: Shelly Million, Shane.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys so much for your time.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: But this new book, you guys, Reaching Generation Alpha, we'll put links in our show notes where folks can find that.
44:07
SPEAKER_02: It is a BH book, which is a LifeWay imprint.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: So you can, listeners, you can find this on lifeway.com or wherever you find books.
44:15
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but please check that out.
44:16
SPEAKER_02: We would encourage you to check out Reaching Gen Generation Alpha.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: And it'd be a great book for you to read as a leader, but also to share with your team, read through together, even with a group of parents.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's great information that that reaches beyond the needs of ministry leaders to that of everyone who engages with with Gen Alpha.
44:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I alpha.
44:33
SPEAKER_02: Thank you both for your work and thanks for your time.
44:35
SPEAKER_02: We appreciate your friendship, and we're so glad to have you.
44:37
SPEAKER_05: It's great to be here always.
44:38
SPEAKER_05: Yes, thank you.
44:39
SPEAKER_02: This is a conversation that is that is so needed right now.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm excited that Jenna, that you and I are able to be at the table to host this kind of talk.
44:49
SPEAKER_02: And listeners, don't feel like you're behind.
44:51
SPEAKER_02: You're not behind.
44:52
SPEAKER_02: You may actually be early as we start to think about what we can do strategically to reach Generation Alpha as they're now stepping out of kids' ministry into student student ministry.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: It's this is an important time for us to get it right.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: And so this is the right time for you to be thinking in this direction.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: This episode of Kids Ministry Calling Podcast was brought to you by our amazing team, including executive producer Angie Elkins, producer Nikki Upton, edited by Trey Garza, and recorded in the Lifeweight Podcast Studio in Brentwood, Tennessee, with Sound Engineer Donnie Gordon.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: And artwork by Cameron Wilson.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: And I'm your host, Janet McGruder.
45:45
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Kids Ministry Calling.